Guru’s WBB Report: Upsets As Tennessee Rallies on South Carolina; Indiana on Michigan; BYU on Gonzaga; Iowa’s Clark Hits Penn State With A ‘30’

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

Once upon a time in the days the Southeastern Conference and Tennessee were synonymous in women’s basketball with some others rotating in and out as challengers, the idea that on a key evening the Lady Vols could be treated as Cinderella and South Carolina as the heavyweight would have been sheer fantasy.

But that fantasy became reality Thursday night in Knoxville with No. 21 Tennessee dropping to a 16-point deficit in the first half and improving slightly to 12 at the break yet come roaring back on the No. 2 Gamecocks the rest of the way and completing a 24-point turnaround to a 75-67 victory at home in Thompson-Boling Arena.

That turnaround total also matched the second-half total collected by the Lady Vols’ Rennia Davis, who scored all 24 of her points the rest of the way.

“She put us back on our heels,” South Carolina coach Dawn Staley said of the play of Davis. “Initially, she just got momentum. She got to the free throw line. She did a little bit of everything — midrange threes, free throw line, attacked the basket.

“I mean she’s a senior in this league, she’s done it night in and night out, but unfortunately for us, she did it on a night which they needed it and she willed them to a win. Tennessee just took it to us in the third and fourth quarters and we had nothing or no one to stop it.”

The Gamecocks had thundered in the early part of the game using a 15-1 run and overall 21-9 second quarter to make things, even on the road, would be business as usual.

It’s the second week that South Carolina (17-3, 12-1 SEC) has been caught since the Gamecocks had returned to the top of the Associated Press women’s rankings on Feb. 8 and several hours later lost at then-No. 2 Connecticut, allowing the Huskies to replace them at the top and likely to stay there in the remaining weeks of the regular season.

Tennessee (13-5, 7-3), which had lost two straight on the road and had Tuesday’s makeup visit to Mississippi State postponed due to weather, also got 19 points from Rae Burrell and 11 from Jordan Horston.

The Lady Vols due to the weather in the south had gotten stranded in Texas in their travels following the narrow loss Sunday night at then-No. 6 Texas A&M, which now has a chance to win the regular season SEC running the table and beating the Gamecocks at the finish.

“It’s the game we needed to prepare for the most and prepared the least,” Tennessee second-year coach and alum Kellie Harper said of gaining the program’s first win over a Top 5 team, though coming close several times, in the last three seasons — the most recent — an 82-74 win over No. 2 Texas in Knoxville on Dec. 10, 2017.

Aliyah Boston had 17 points and 16 rebounds for South Carolina while Zia Cooke and Destanni Henderson each scored 15.

But in the second half South Carolina did not help itself much with shooting almost as cold as the frigid weather outdoors.

Tennessee was in such a state at halftime that Harper transformed herself into the spirit of her coach the late and legendary Hall of Famer Pat Summitt giving a fiery speech and admitted after the game to calling her group “soft.”

Said Davis of the speech, “I took it personal. My first half — I just wasn’t doing enough for the team. I took it personal and my teammates did too. We came out there and I thought we grew up in the second half.”

Davis came out and got 13 of her points in what became a 28-17 third period in favor of Tennessee, which was held to 31.3 percent from the field in the first half but then fired away at a 57.1 percent mark and 3-of-6 from beyond the arc the rest of the way.

In gaining the victory, Tennessee preserved its program and conference overall and in-season win streaks while South Carolina within the SEC was stopped after two seasons on what had been marks of 31-straight SEC rivals and 28 in non-conference tournament play.

Of the third quarter, Staley said, “The simple was we couldn’t make a basketball play, whether it was a simple high-post pass, or, we couldn’t make reads. We tried to get the ball to Alliyah. We got the ball to her in the high post, we couldn’t get it to her in the low post. Maybe she needed to be in two places at once but, unfortunately, that doesn’t happen.”

While Staley referred to the loss as “devastating,” as she stated after the loss at UConn, “What we want is still in front of us.”

Indeed, this past Monday in its first of two Reveals by the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament Committee that are being released ahead of Selection Monday on March 15, South Carolina received the second No. 1 seed and named No. 2 overall among the Top 16 announced. Between now and the tournament announcement, another updated reveal will be made known on March 1.

The Gamecocks should be in good shape by winning the conference tournament while they also stand the possibility of seeing the Lady Vols again and/or possibly Texas A&M twice.

Still, Staley knows that the tremor Thursday could have an impact in making things now somewhat less secure.

“One loss in this league has huge ramifications and nationally. For us, I like to play in front of all that. You leave all the questions and all that other stuff, now, we’re going to be the ones asking the questions instead of just forging ahead. But we’ll right the ship. And again all our goals are still in front of us because of the position we put ourselves in with all the work prior to today’s loss.”

As for Tennessee, a year ago Staley’s Gamecocks beat the Lady Vols by 21 in Harper’s first season back at her alma mater.

Asked what’s different, she said, “The biggest difference is they are disciplined. They are in shape. They are healthy. And they just kept fighting.”

On the turnovers leading to the two recent losses, she said, “If we can’t fix them, we might as well pack it in. They’re fixable.”

She noted that Henderson played too many minutes but Staley, the fabled point guard from Dobbins Tech in Philadelphia, through Virginia in the NCAA, through All-Star careers in the former American Basketball League and WNBA, and, internationally with three Olympic gold medals, didn’t have a suitable substitute yet in games like against Tennessee.

For Tennessee, obviously, the game was a sign of progress to move back up to the era when the Lady Vols were a dominate team within the SEC and nationally.

“I’m very proud about finishing the game,” said Harper, who after Sunday’s loss to Texas A&M said, that was the one thing yet to happen matching with the elite opponents. “(South Carolina) is so good. They’re disciplined. They have a lot of talent and depth.

“They do things well both ends of the court. I’m really proud of our team for stepping up and making plays when we had to make them. We got a huge win. I’m so happy and so proud,” Harper said.

“We have fought all year long. We haven’t won every game but we have fought. We’re competitive and play hard. Those are two things, when I step out on the court every game, I know I’m going to get those two things.”  

The comeback is the largest since Harper was hired from her head coaching position at Missouri State, As a program it’s the largest since erasing a 20-point deficit in the third quarter playing Stetson on Dec. 5, 2018.

On Sunday, the Lady Vols will be looking to avenge a loss to No. 22 Georgia when they travel to Athens for a noon tilt in Stegeman Coliseum on the SEC network. The Bulldogs upset Tennessee earlier this season in Knoxville for their first win in 25 seasons.

South Carolina will be home Sunday hosting No. 17 Kentucky in Colonial Life Arena in Columbia at 3 p.m. on ESPN.

Indiana Stops Michigan: Though not as massive, but plentiful, nonetheless, like Rennia Davis did for Tennessee, Grace Berger had all 16 of her points in the second half, including a pair of foul shots with 2 minutes, 18 seconds left in regulation, to lift the No. 14 Hoosiers to the lead for good at home and to a 70-65 upset of No. 11 Michigan in a Big Ten clash at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in Bloomington.

Berger’s points were helped by a perfect 10-for-10 from the line for the Hoosiers (14-4, 12-2 Big Ten), fighting in a crowd just behind front-running No. 9 Maryland.

In all, Indiana was 17-for-19 from the charity stripe and shot at a 50 percent clip, 9-for-18 on three-point attempts.

Ali Patberg carried the home team in the first half with 17 of the squad’s 23 points, including nine from a trio of three-balls. 

Reserve Chloe Moore-McNeil had made just a pair of 3-pointers all season but equaled the total in the second quarter against the Wolverines (12-2, 7-2) to spark a 37-35 lead at the break after an exchange of leads 11 times across the first two quarters.

Aleksa Gulbe scored 13 and joined Nicole Cardano-Hillary, a former George Mason star, in making a pair of three-pointers in the second half to keep the Hoosiers in contention.

The Indiana defense was able to stop Michigan from the field in the final 3:48 and Mackenzie Holmes’ steal of Michigan star Naz Hillmon with 29 seconds left enabled Berger to get to the line with two more foul shots to preserve the win and move into second a game behind the Terrapins.

Hillmon finished with 23 points and 12 rebounds.

“This one feels good,” said Hoosiers coach Teri Moren. “That’s a really good team that we have a lot of respect for. We went in believing we had to outrebound them to win the game and that doesn’t always hold true, especially when you can make shots, and tonight I thought Michigan came in here willing to allow us to beat them from the outside and it was nice to see our three-ball go in.

“And then I thought we did some good things, defensively. They just never quit. Just when things seem to about to go out of control, we come down and make a big play. That’s because we’re a veteran team,” Moren said. “We’ve been in these situations before. Tight contest. We’ve been on the other side of this too, but tonight was a different story. I just like the way our guys went about their work tonight. That’s how it is with Michigan. Every possession matters.”

Michigan, coached by Kim Barnes Arico, previously at St. John’s, returns home Sunday to host No. 15 Ohio State in the Crisler Center at 2 p.m. in Ann Arbor on ESPN2.

The Wolverines, like Rutgers, recently came off a sizable pause of their own due to the coronavirus.

Indiana is off until Wednesday, heading to Wisconsin.

Gonzaga Tripped by BYU - The No. 16 Zags, which hadn’t lost an overall game since the outset of the season in late fall when they succumbed to South Carolina and South Dakota State, had that ended, including what had been a perfect run in the West Coast Conference, with a road setback to BYU 61-56 in the Marriott Center in Provo, Utah.

Jenn Wirth scored a game-high 18 points with 10 rebounds, while Melody Kempton scored 10 points for Gonzaga (18-3, 13-1 West Coast).

Shaylee Gonzales scored 16 points for BYU (15-3, 11-2), while Paisley Harding scored 12, and Lauren Gustin and Sara Hampson each scored 10.

The Zags stay on the road traveling to play at San Diego Saturday at 5 p.m. in the East.

Louisville and N.C. State Gain Wins: The Atlantic Coast Conference was the only other place Thursday fielding games involving ranked teams and No. 3 Louisville won at Pittsburgh 82-58 while No. 4 North Carolina State won at Wake Forest 66-47.

In the win by Louisville (20-1, 13-1 ACC) Dana Evans matched her career-high with 29 points, while Elizabeth Dixon scored 12 over the Panthers (5-10, 3-8), who got 20 from Gabbie Green, who shot 7-of-12 from the field, including 5-of-8 three-balls.

“I think Dana is one of the best right now,” Louisville coach Jeff Walz said of Evans. “What she’s been able to do night in and night out in the ACC is pretty remarkable.”

He also expressed displeasure over the lack of attention from ESPN.

“If they don’t write about her, you’re  not going to read about her, but she’s played pretty darn well.”

Louisville next heads to Florida State Sunday.

In the win by North Carolina State (14-2, 9-2 ACC), the Wolfpack used a solid defensive effort to limit the Demon Deacons (11-9, 8-8) to a tie for the fewest points allowed by the visitors.

Jakia Brown-Turner scored 21 points, two short of her personal best, for the Wolfpack, while Kayla Jones got 12 of her 16 points in the first half, and Elissa Cunane had 15 points and 10 rebounds.

Caitlin Clark Shoots Down Penn State for Iowa: On the local front, it was too much Caitlin Clark for Penn State on the road in Iowa in a Big Ten game at Carver Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City as the dynamic freshman scored 30 points, in a 96-78 win for the Hawkeyes.

Clark scored 32, her fourth straight game reaching 30 or more points, and on the season it’s her eighth, the only freshman reach that total since 2015-16.

Kate Martin had 19 points, Monika Czinano scored 17, and McKenna Warnock scored 15 for Iowa (12-6, 8-6 Big Ten).

Despite Clark’s performance, the Lady Lions (8-10, 5-9), who tied a program record with 14 treys for the contest, stayed competitive through the first 20 minutes, outscoring Iowa by six in the first quarter and five in the second for a 52-41 lead at the break.

Then the roof fell in with the Hawkeyes defense closing down the visitors 28-15 in the third and 27-11 in the fourth for a 55-26 advantage the rest of the way.

The Lady Lions shot ten of their 14 from deep in the first half before the home team fired 11 the rest of the way.

Penn State’s Maddie Burke scored 20, helped by 6-for-15 from deep, while Anna Camden scored 18, and Niya Beverley and Shay Haggins each scored 13, and Makenna Marisa grabbed 10 rebounds.

The Lady Lions stay on the road to head to Nebraska in Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, Sunday, at 3 p.m. on the Big Ten Network.

In another game in the Big Ten involving a ranked team, No. 15 Ohio State, which hadn’t played in over a week, ended up blasting visiting Purdue 100-85 in Value City Arena in Columbus.

Dorka Juhasz had her sixth straight double double with 23 points and 10 rebounds for the Buckeyes (13-3, 9-3 Big Ten), the longest double double streak in the program in 14 seasons since 2007. She’s just the fourth Buckeyes with a double double streak of six or more games.

Jacy Sheldon scored 19 and dealt a career-high seven assists, while Braxtin Miller scored 15 off 6-of-8 from the field. Aaliyah Patty scored 12 in the game in which Ohio State’s 18-0 run in the second quarter was enough to power to a finish on the Boilermakers (6-12, 3-11).

“I thought we did a really good job in getting the shot we wanted,” said Ohio coach Kevin McGuff, who nevertheless, said the defense needs a little more improvement ahead of Sunday’s game with Michigan

La Salle Falls Just Short on Spruill’s Career Day: Kayla Spruill set a career mark with 27 points and grabbed 10 rebounds but the Explorers fell just short, losing in overtime to VCU 63-62 in an Atlantic 10 game in Richmond.

Claire Jacobs added 19 points for La Salle (10-11, 6-8 Atlantic 10).

Madison Hattix-Covington had 15 points for VCU (10-9, 8-4), while Sarah Te-Biasu scored 13, Tera Reed scored 11, and Samantha Robinson scored 10.

The game was tight finishing out in regulation with La Salle’s three foul shots bringing the Explorers to a 54-54 tie with 55 seconds left but neither team could prevail to win before time expired.

Early in the extra period the lead swung back and forth but the Rams got five of the last seven points to nip the visitors for the outcome.

La Salle remains in Richmond to visit the Spiders in the Robins Center at noon Saturday on ESPN+.

One advantage they will have on the home team is Saint Joseph’s Friday game was postponed with Richmond because of the weather, so the Explorers will be getting the Spiders in back-to-back contests.

Unfortunately for the Hawks, they will have to do back-to-backs in visiting VCU Saturday after playing Richmond Friday at 1 p.m.

Of course teams in such conferences as the Colonial Athletic Association with Delaware and Drexel, and the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference with Rider, have been doing back-to-backs on weekends and the Patriot League haver even executed them in home-and-home arenas.

Looking Ahead: Besides the makeup involving Saint Joseph’s on the local front, a major Big East contest has Villanova visiting Marquette in Milwaukee at 8 p.m. on the Big East Digital Network as the Wildcats seek to avenge a rout back home earlier and gain on the third-place Golden Eagles and attract some attention from the NCAA Tournament Committee.

Nationally, in the PAC-12 Friday night, No. 10 Arizona is at California in Berkeley at 3:30 p.m., while No. 6 Stanford is hosting Arizona State at 10 p.m. In another key PAC-12 game, No. 13 Oregon is at No. 8 UCLA at 8 p.m.

In the SEC, No. 18 Arkansas hosts Ole Miss at 7 p.m., while in the Summit League, No. 23 South Dakota State is at North Dakota State at 6 p.m. on ESPN3. And fnally, in the Missouri Valley Conference, No. 25 Missouri State hosts Bradley at 8 p.m.

And that’s the report.